THE THANE Nagar police have registered an FIR against former Congress Member of Parliament (MP) Nilesh Rane and four others, including his personal assistant and two bodyguards, for allegedly kidnapping and assaulting a Chiplun-based Congress party worker.

While the case has been registered at Thane, it will be transferred to the Chiplun police station, where the alleged incident took place. Rane has denied the allegations. According to the statement given by the complainant Sandeep Sawant, chief of the Chiplun tehsil unit of the party, Rane had organised a rally on the issue of Maratha reservation on Sunday. Sawant’s mother was unwell and hence he had to go to her residence in another village nearly 40 km from Chiplun. As a result, he could not attend the event organised by Rane, he told the police.

Sawant alleged that after he returned home around 11 pm, Rane and his men, furious that he did not attend the rally, came to his residence and forcibly made him sit in the car they had come in. The five drove till Andheri, where they locked him in Sindhudurg Bhavan, Sawant claimed. Rane and his men then allegedly beat him up before dropping him off at Jogeshwari, where his brother-in-law lives.

Inspector Dharmadhikari of Thane Nagar police station said, “We have registered an FIR against five persons, including Nilesh Rane, on the basis of the complaint given by Sawant. However, since the incident took place at Chiplun, the case will be transferred to the Chiplun police station.”

The five have been charged under sections 323 (assault), 341 (wrongful restraint) 363 (kidnapping) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC. Sawant was recuperating at the Thane Civil hospital, the officer added.